mpanies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. right now on andrea mitchell reports, sequester crunch. minutes from now president obama will be calling on congress to pass a short-term budget deal to delay those drastic cuts for a few more months. but today speaker boehner has already shot that idea down. sfloot house on two occasions has passed a plan to replace the sequester. it's time for the senate democrats to do their work. it's time for the president to offer his ideas about how to replace the sequester. >> out of the shadows. the house starts working on immigration reform. >> what americans deserve is a system that works a system

that's accountable and puts immigrants already here on a road to earn citizenship. >> license to kill. an nbc exclusive. the justice department's secret rationale for target the killings of americans linked to al qaeda. >> one of the things i want to make sure that everybody understands is that our primary concern is to keep the american people safe, but to do so in a way that's consistent with our laws and consistent with our values. >> reaction ahead from house intelligence chair mike rogers. the joke is on whom? after years of being the butt of david letterman's fat jokes, chris christie has the last laugh. >> but i have made jokes about you not just one or two, not just ongoing here and there, intermittent, but --

>> i -- i didn't know this was going to be this long. ♪ the hills are alive with the sound of music ♪ >> and we are alive with our special guest this hour from stage to screen and now award-winning children's books. julie andrews talks to us about all of her storied careers. and good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. president obama told voters back in october that the sequester would not happen, but as it is about to become a reality, the president is calling on congress just a few minutes from now to delay those massive cuts. joining me now for our daily fix chris caliz sdmr a and managing editor of post politics.com, and nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. first to you, chris. it seems as though the president is trying one last time, perhaps it's not the last time, to take

it to congress. is this going to work? >> i think what he saw, andrea, was this expectation that we had a couple of months ago, honestly, that while they would never let the sequester happen, it's this kind of across the board cut that cuts domestic, that cuts defense spending, and that politicians don't want this on either side. i think what the president and his senior team realized as well, republicans may not want it, but they seem okay to let it happen. they don't have to vote. nothing has to happen. it just -- the date comes, and the sequester happens. i think this is an attempt to say, look, we don't want to do this kind of blind cut john boehner's initial reaction doesn't suggest this year going to be open to tshg but clearly a cam bet to say it's not enough to just sit back and let this sequester happen. nobody gets blamed. everybody does it.

there's no way to take a vote on it. where is the coalition of support to stop the sequesters? >> well, there has been a growing sense of inevitability for the reasons you outlined, that everybody can have hands off and watch the deficit go down by what they built into this system, what was intended to be the ultimate stick because they had not been able to resolve longer term solutions to the budget, so these sweeping cuts would help to kind of reset the order and put the country on a path to saving some money. you have republicans now, and fiscal conservatives, particularly, who say that if the sequester does happen, it will be a way to force the country into recognizing the need for further cuts. as some of the measures go into effect, that would create another time of urgency to get to the table and talk about

this. the president and senate democrats will talk about additional tax revenue which they thought was settled as a way to put this forward. what is happening where senate democrats are having a retreat, meeting behind closed doors, looking at how long could they delay the sequester, how much time could they buy themselves, and how would they pay pour it? would there be cuts elsewhere or new revenue, some kinds of new tacks? they're trying to resolve that. the president has been criticized for not taking more of a forward step on sec west rags. today is a critical move for him to put his own marker down. andrea. >> when the president sees those senate democrats, kelly and chris, are any of them going to speak up, raise their hand and say, hey, you need to be more engaged with us, and we're not so happy about the people taking over your congressional relations office? >> that's interesting. that is a critical link, and we

do see a change happening there where rob neighbors, who had been working is moving into a promotion within the white house. committee chairs and so forth want more connection directly with the president and his senior staff want more communication. so being at this retreat, as they call it, is a way to try to air some of that out. there's been a lot of concern about where would the cuts be? if they are talking sequestration and who would get the blame? that's one of the real concerns about how this gets away from them if they don't plan a strategy for making reasonable cuts that they know has to happen and not having their own most important interest groups bare the brunt of this. >> chris, i want to ask you about that as well. >> well, i was just -- i just wanted to add, one pass naturing thing. president obama has been clear to say, look, i spent too much time playing the inside game in my first four years. we're going to go out to the

american public and sell these policies. now, everybody thinks, oh, he is going to put pressure on republicans, and he will. there are lots of democrats that don't love the idea of this kind of end run that he is going to kind of bypass congress and use the american people to leverage congress. there's lots of democrats who that sentiment doesn't sit all that well with, and kelly is right. look, this is an straix. it's not unique. it's an administration that there's been plenty of grumbling about that president obama has not spent muff time courting them, that he doesn't care about them. he was very briefly a member of congress and it's not a priority. i think some of that just goes with the territory. that theenz democrats too as well as republicans. >> chris, kelly, thank you both very much. immigration reform, joining me now, one of the lawmakers who took part in today's congressional hearings, the

house hearings on immigration policy. ru ease gutierrez, thank you very much. this was sort of the opening act on the house side. we've seen a big shift on republicans -- in republicans and a lot of action coming from the senate. what are you seeing on the house side? >> well, here's what i'm seeing on the house side. here we have the judiciary committee, and it's first hearing on the full committee. what are we discussing? immigration. some would say, well, the kind of focussing on the high skilled industry and the need for more. that's good. i support more visas. part of comprehensive immigration reform is making sure that all our industries, including the high-tech industry, that their workers are able to come to this country with their wives, with their children, and integrate. those that have been working ino vating, so many of our industries in america, hey, it's time to let their wives and their children and for them to be able to integrate themselves. i am all good with that. i think the important thing is that the dialogue and the conversation has begun.

the president invited me to come see him a couple of fridays ago with other colleagues of the hispanic congressional caulk yeahs, and i have to say, andrea, i was blown away when he said this is his top priority. to work with this president after that incredible victory of over five million votes in which he was given a mandate. the american people said, hey, let's get xrensive immigration reform done. democrats wanted the president is going to articulate that. republicans really need comprehensive immigration reform. i think today is the first education. >> are you getting any indication that you can come to an agreement on path to citizenship? not just on border security and on doing something with the h1b visas. >> i think that in the end we should never create a subclass of people.

everybody should always be able to reach citizenship. i think it's important because i want them to have all the same responsibilities and obligations that i and you have as citizens of this nation along with all of the benefits, because that really makes the nation stronger. where you talk about fabric, that's the glue that keeps us together, right? self-departation is the way to get rid of 12 million undocumented workers. wait a minute. sb 1070, the anti-immigration law in arizona, that should be replicated in the other 49 states, and romney said he would veto the dream act. what a sea change to talking about they can stay in this country and we need to fix our immigration system. i welcome that conversation and that dialogue. finally there are people moving to solve the problem. >> congressman, there is a rather disturbing study with

some new data today, which says that two-thirds of mexican -- of emgrants from mexico who could legally apply to citizenship don't. >> what is your read? is it a language barrier? is it cultural? are there legal barrier that is i'm not aware of? >> sure. it's almost $700 to apply. >> when i got to congress, it was $90. $90. now it's $700. when you think of family units, it's not just one, it could be three or four. we need to deal with that. the other thing is our community needs to continue to reach out and to help and to facilitate that process of citizenship.

look, the important thing is the avenue b allows sxb there. i think for those that say we don't want them to be citizens, maybe they can look at this report to see that what we're talking about is we should allow them to be there. let me just say in addition to this, look, they do want to become citizens. the last person that i personally filled out the form was 102 years old. her 79-year-old son brought her to my office. 79-year-old son brought her to my office and says my mom is 102, and i asked her -- i said why do you want to be a citizen? she said i want to die just like my children, a citizen of this nation. i don't want to die without achieving citizenship. because she loves this country and wants to be just like her kids. that story is being replicated across this country. let's give them as we've given everybody that's come here an opportunity to make that ultimate commitment and sacrifice with all the responsibilities and obligations that come along with american

citizenship. >> janet napolitano was on the board stressing the border security piece of this, which the coalition and the senate, the bipartisan group says has to be hand in hand and if not preceding what is done on path to citizenship. >> i agree you cannot secure the border until we have somehow have a system in the united states to check people that are being employed here and have an id check for people that are already here in the united states and allow them to come out of the shadows. let me just share this with you, andrea. one of the first bills then senator barack obama and i introduced together was to reduce the fees and help people become american citizens. secondly, i talked to mayor rahm emanuel and others about how it is we take this financial roadblock to citizenship and try to alleviate it. yes, they need to pay. it shouldn't be free. but at the same time let's make

sure it's one that strengthens the fabric of our american society. >> just wanted to play a little bit of what napolitano said along the border. sdmroog. >> sure. >> our am gregs system has been broken for far too long. the time to fix it has come. time is of the essence. i believe the border is secure. i believe the border is a safe border. that's not to say that everything is 100%. >> so she's just making the points that you have just made as well. we're going to have to leave it there, but thank you very much. let's keep talking about this, congressman. >> looking forward to it, andrea. >> coming up next, a new report with some disturbing revelations about the outsourcing of torture over the last decade. and the cia's past use of secret detentions. sfwlimplgts plus, the disturbing vote out of north korea that appears to show new york city in

flames after a dream sequence of a nuclear attack. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ldn't itl if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and class-leading 38 mpg highway... advanced headlights... and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovati that excites. now get a $199-per-month lease on the 2013 nissan altima. ♪

. we say that we only take these kinds of actions when there's an imminent threat when capture is not feasible and when we are confident that we are doing so in a way that's consistent with federal and international law. >> the u.s. government can order the killing of american citizens if they are believed to be "senior operational leaders of al qaeda" or its subsidiary groups. investigative correspondent michael isikopf joins us now. we are going to be back to this in a moment because the

president has come into the briefing room. >> on our budget and on our deficit, and these are decision that is are l have real and lasting impacts on the strength and pace of our recovery. >> economist and business leaders have said our economy is poised for progress in 2013, and we've seen signs of this progress over the last several weeks. home prices continue to climb. car sales are at a five-year high. manufacturing has been strong and we have created more than six million jobs in the last 35 months. we've also seen the effects that our political dysfunction -- the drawn-out process for resolving the fiscal cliff. the threat of massive automatic cuts have already started to affect business decisions. we've been reminded while it's critical for us to cut wasteful spending, we can't just cut our way to prosperity.

deep indiscriminate cuts to things like education and training, energy, and national security will cost us jobs. it will slow down our recovery. it's not the right thing to do for the economy. it's not the right thing for folks who are out there still looking for work. the good news is this doesn't have to happen. for all the drama and disagreements we've had over the past few years, democrats and republicans have still been able to come together and cut the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a mix of spending cuts and higher rates on taxes for the wealthy. a balanced approach has achieved more than $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction. that's more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties believe is required to stabilize our debt.

so we've made progress. i still believe that we can finish the job with a balanced mix of spending cuts and more tax reform. the proposals that i have put forward during the fiscal cliff negotiations in discussions with speaker boehner and others, are still very much on the table. i just want to repeat, the deals that i put forward, the balanced approach of spending cuts and entitlement reform and tax reform that i put forward are still on the table. i have offered sensible reforms to medicare and other entitlements, and my health care proposals achieved the same amount of savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms that have been proposed by the bipartisan bowls simple son fiscal commission. these reforms radio reduce our government's bill. what's up, cameraman?

come on, guys. they're breaking my flow all the time. these reforms would reduce our government's bills by reducing the costs of health care, not shifting all those costs on to middle class seniors or the working poor or children with disability, but nevertheless, achieving the kinds of savings that we're looking for. but in order to achieve the full $4 trillion in deficit reductions that is the stated goal of economists and our elected leaders, these modest reforms in our social insurance programs have to go hand in hand with a process of tax reform so that the wealthiest individuals and corporations can't take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most americans. leaders in both parties have already identified the need to get rid of these loopholes and deductions.

if we are going to close these loopholes, then there's no reason we should use the saving that is we obtain and turn around and spend that on new tax breaks for the wealthiest or for corporations. if we're serious about paying down the deficit, the savings we achieve from tax reform should be used to pay down the deficit, and potentially to make our businesses more competitive. now, i think this balanced mix of spending cuts and tax reform is the best way to finish the job of deficit reduction. the overwhelming majority of the american people democrats as well as republicans, have the seam view, and both the house and the senate are working towards budget professionals that help reflect this budget approach. having said that, i know that a full budget maent be finished

before march 1st. unfortunately, that's the date when a series of harmful automatic cuts to job creating cuts and defense spending, also knowns athe sequester, are scheduled to take effect. if congress can't act immediately on a bigger package, if they can't get a bigger package done by the time the sequester is scheduled to go into effect, then i believe that they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months until congress finds a way to replace these cuts with a smarter solution. there is no reason that the jobs of thousands of americans who work in national security or education or clean energy, not to mention the growth of the entire economy, should be put in jeopardy just because folks in washington couldn't come together to eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes or government programs that we

agree need some reform. congress is already working towards a budget that would permanently replace the sequester at the very least we should give them the chance to come up with this budget instead of making indiscriminate cuts now that will cost us jobs and significantly slow down our recovery. so let me just repeat, our economy right now is headed in the right direction, and it will stay that way as long as there aren't any more self-inflicted wounds coming out of washington. let's keep on chipping away at this problem together, as democrats and republicans, to give our workers and our businesses the support that they need to thrive in the weeks and months ahead. thanks very much, and i know that you're going to have a whole bunch of other questions, and that's why i hired this guy, jay carney, to take those questions. thank you, everybody. >> and as the president left

without taking any questions with an wrerl shot at the camera crews for flashes of light that he said disturbed his flow, we want to return to the whole controversial issue of that memo and mike isikopf with us here still. i did talk to the people in the white house about this. they said that, look, this policy has been very clearly defined publicly defined by john brennan and his speech at harvard by jay johnson, the former head -- the former lead counsel at the pentagon. and by eric holder today. but eric holder seemed to be either conflating or combining imminent threat with ongoing threat. tell me about the memo itself. >> that is exactly the rub. they have -- it is certainly true that administration officials, all those you mentioned, have articulated that it is the bottom administration

policy that targeted killings of americans who are associated with al qaeda are lawful and constitutional under certain conditions, and the first concern is that the individual poses an imminent threat of a violent attack against the united states. in other words, capture is not feasible, and the operation is done according to law or principles. what this memo does, which is not something that has been public, is flesh that out and provide details about what they mean by that, and one of those striking points is when they get to defining imminent threat. they talk about a broader -- the memo explicitly says that they have intelligence that the targeted individual is involved in an active plot against the united states. what they mean is that this individual may have been linked to or involved in threats in the past. there's no evidence they have renounced such activities, and,

therefore, one can assume they are posing an imminent threat. it's -- it is a much more broad dance of definition of imindependence. >> and the chair of the senate intelligence committee, dianne feinstein, who said that she did receive this memo when congress first asked last year for better explanation, still wants to see the actual legal orders and the white house just told me they're not going to turn those over because they feel that that is basically lawyer-client privilege, privilege between the president's counsel in the justice department and him. the other thing here is she did defend the use of this for the killing of al alakhi in yemen because he was involved in supposedly the plot for the christmas bombing. >> look, there seems to be a consensus within government that he was a bad guy and that we were justified in taking him out. on the other hand, critics will say, he was an american citizen. he had never been charged with a

crime. >> they may have been right about him, but what kind of precedent does that set down the road when maybe it's not president obama in office. others who might have -- even other ideas about who is a threat and who is not. >> mike, i know you're going to have more on this later on nightly news. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and still ahead, the legendary actress and singer julie andrews. ♪ if you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious ♪ [ man ] ring ring... progresso

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nonprofit group alleges that suspects were taken to cia secret prisons and then when those were exposed first by dana priest in the washington post, kept being turned over to foreign countries where they could then be tortured and interrogated. the author of this new report is the senior legal officer for the open society's justice michigantive, a human rights campaign group. thank you very much. tell us what you think is still going on that the current administration needs to answer for. >> andrea, i think the short answer is we don't know what's going on. in january of 2009 president obama issued an executive order specifically disavvoying torture and closing detention sites. the problem is he did not specifically repudiate rendition. a task force that was specifically set up by that executive order to review interrogation and transfer policy issued a report in august of 2009, but that report

continues to be withheld today. so we don't know what the official policies and practices are with respect to rendition. the other problem is that we don't know what, if any, plans there are to insure that there is going to be a accountability and further transparency with respect to these issues. >> the policy you're describing is the extraordinary renditions. you're not talking about legally due process, return of guantanamo prisoners to host countries. you're not talking about extradition processes. you're talking about grabbing, snatching a suspect and then delivering that person to syria or to egypt, those leaders are no longer there or no longer those regimes no longer in full control, but to countries where they were then interrogated with technical feeks that had been disavoyed or illegal by the u.s.

>> i'm talking about the rendition which means the transfer without legal process of a detainee to another government for purposes of detention and interrogation, and under the bush administration we know that spawned basically an enormous amount of torture in the custody of governments like egypt, syria, jordan, and so on. we don't know what the policies of the current government are. >> i know that i was involved in the case of a canadian sit sfwlen who was grabbed at j.f.k. and brought to syria. it's extraordinary when we think about it now. turned over to the assad government to be "interrogated." with the cooperation of the u.s. government, led to a famous lawsuit and a lot of problems and questions in the canadian parliament as well. how much of this do you think is still going on? what is your investigation showing? >> well, our investigation shows that 54 governments were complicity during the bush administration's cia, secret

detention and extraordinary ren dick program. the fact that 54 governments were complicity and 126 individuals were specifically documented in this report just calls into question what are the policies of the current administration? we don't know. those still remain secret. those need to be disclosed to the public. the task force report needs to be disclosed. the senate select committee on intelligence report immediate to be disclosed. all of these issues must be up for public review and debate. >> what questions would you want to hear the senate ask of john brennan when he comes before the senate intelligence committee for confirmation hearings on thursday afternoon? >> well, it's very interesting. john brennan in december of 2005 specifically said that he was intimately familiar with cases of rendition, and specifically said that it was an absolutely vital tool in combatting terrorism. i think the obvious question to john brennan is what did he mean

by those statements? what policies would he put in place now, and what is he going to do to insure that there needs -- that there is continuing transparency with respect to these issues so the public can comment? >> thank you very much. thanks for being with us. sfwlimplgts and coming up, screen legend julie andrews on her second act, children's book author. first, the baltimore ravens brought the party home this morning holding a parade from city hall to m & t bank stadium. fans powered through near freezing temperatures to celebrate their own. the nfl champs. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused.

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♪ the hells are alive with the sound of music ♪ ♪ with songs they have sung for a thousand years ♪ >> she is a legend, a legend of theater and film. the first eli sfwl a dolittle on broadway, and then an academy award winner for "mary popins" a win her at the golden globes for "sound uf music" and now she and her daughter are best sellers for a series of children's book. they're now out with the fourth book in their series, "the very fairy princess." the character geraldine is based on emma's daughter and julie's granddaughter, and joining me now is julie andrew from new york and emma walton hamilton, both with us in new york city. thank you both. it's great to see you again. is this the 27th book in the series? julie. >> it is the 27th book in the series. actually, the 27th book we've written together and the fifth

book in this particular series in the very fairy princess series. >> i'm not getting you on my mike. i'm so sorry. hello. >> it's good to see you again. >> can somebody fix that for me? while we fix your audio, emma, if you could talk about working with your mother and how this has evolved to this very successf successful. >> i think you can hear me now. >> lovely to see you. >> it's 15 years, andrea, that we've been writing together, if you can believe it, and people always ask how is it that a mother-daughter team, writing team, could work? they seem sort of disbelieving, but we've found it to be a very happy and -- >> organic, nice process. it's like playing in a wonderful sandbox together. we don't get involved with family issues. we just get involved with the books really. >> and stay creative and it's a

great deal of mutual respect, and i think that helps, and the best idea wins. >> and this is also something very near and dear to our hearts because we talk about violence in video games. these are books. these are books for little girls and boys. no violence to develop the habit of reading themselves or being read to, and that is such an important part of family relationships. >> yes. it's a huge responsibility to write for children because you better get it right, because it is for children, and hopefully it might influence them for the rest of their lives. i mean, who doesn't remember the book that made the difference when they were young? this particular series is something of a misnomer because it's not your typical princess book. it's really about celebrating individuality and authenticity and little gerry, the very fairy princess, thinks she's a fairy princess, but, many of the, it's really about her inner sparkle, more than her outer spark and

what she shares with the world and how she helps her friends and so forth. >> this is just a fifth in the series, and we've got more in the pipeline, and -- >> valentine's day. >> this just happens to be a valentine's day one. >> it's a valentine's days for us any time we get to see you, julie, and emma. >> i was looking back at a today show celebration of the 45th anniversary of "sound of music." this was two years ago. that was 47 years presumably. you were talking about what a family that group is. not just you, but all of those that played the children sfwloosh we keep in touch all the time, and we love each other very much, and it's kind of a very happy situation that we do all get on, and that we do still remember each other at christmas and birthdays and so on. i think of them so fondly because we worked very hard. >> and when i think about the range of your career now that

ewe a kennedy honor for the kennedy honor, and you received a degree from yale university. i happened to be -- >> you were there. >> i was there for that and celebrating you. >> that's the first time we ever met, i think. >> i know. it was such a privilege to see you in that. i know you have done work for the united nations, for the state department internationally. what a career. do you have a favorite role, a favorite moment. >> i wish i could say that i did. every single thing that i have done has been either a learning experience or the most fun or the most wonderful director or a great guy to work with, and it's really hard. some of them do stand out. viktor victoria with blake. sob with blake, my husband. obviously sound of music. all of them for different rains. it's really hard to say which one. >> maybe mum. >> maybe mum. >> the author. >> well, for me they're all

special and magic, but i'll never forget seeing you on broadway as a young girl brought by my dad to see eliza dolittle with rex harris. >> that kind of dates both of us, andrea, doesn't it? >> that's okay. that was a good period to be in. what is your message to those, julie and emma, who don't teach their kids the joy and love of reading. >> thank you for asking that question. >> joy is the keyword, andrea. i actually wrote a book about nurturing kids to be readers and raising kids to be readers. called raising book worms. it's about preserving the joy. so often we think, well, kids learn to read at school. i don't have to be responseible for that. they learn to love reading at home, and, therefore, it's really important that we as parents preserve the joy of reading by supporting them and reading things that speak to their hearts, books that they love. not necessarily, you know, always fiction. it can be nonfiction as well, and --

>> reading is from the earliest age possible. stoo reading aloud together as a family, and making sure that every aspect of it is a supportive and joyful process. >> i still treasure those moments with my mom getting our first library card and walking us to the library and browsing through the books, and -- >> that's just it. >> the moments that -- >> they are. those are the tactile pleasures. >> i hope they don't disappear. it's a wonderful world, and all those electronic mediums are helpful and needed, but i still think hold aing book in your hand is just so special. >> well, julie andrews and emma, it is really exciting to see both of you again. thank you so very much. the book, of course -- >> do it in person next time. >> the book is a very fairy princess, and a wonderful valentine's present indeed. >> much love. thank you. >> you too. >> which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next right here on "andrea mitchell reports."

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so which political story will be making headlines in 24 hours. a lot going on. chris cillizza is back with us. seems the president is going to israel, first trip as president. we're expecting this before the passover holiday. he and netanyahu have talked about this apparently so we're getting more information. i think jeff goldberg may have been the first to tweet this out, our friend, but this is a long awaited trip. >> after the israeli election and john kerry as secretary of state. a lot of movement in the region. >> well, it was very interesting that kerry's, john kerry's first calls over the weekend included mahmoud abbas and shimon perez making it clear they want to reengage in the second term and fits with the president going, had been an election issue, as well. i want to just quickly show you something which we want to talk

about more tomorrow. mike rodgers had to run but he will be with us but this was just posted today by official state television in north korea. it is supposed to be a little boy's dream. it's to the music of "we are the world." it is incredibly bizarre as north korea plans what intelligence sources here suspect is going to be the next nuclear underground blast and shows them basically sending a missile and setting off a nuclear bomb in new york city. and this is this wonderful fantasy dream of this north korean child. >> well -- >> as mike rodgers told us back in december, the administration has to focus on north korea and they know it, in fact. >> no question. this is the first i'm seeing of it but golly talk about unsettling. president obama talking about the sequester. obviously important. the economy obviously important but the challenges before us, middle east.

north korea. iran. are significant. they don't get as much attention. i know they do on your show and rightly but not as much attention in the broader political world but in many ways as if not more daunting than the challenges we face domestically relating to the economy. it's a difficult time to be president and difficult time to be secretary of state. difficult time to be a member of congress. >> indeed it is. chris, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> always great to get our fix. that does it for us. tomorrow on the show, congressman elijah cummings talking about his new gun control legislation and mike rodgers back and follow the show online and twitter. buy your child a book. my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next. hi, tamron. >> hi, andrea. great to see you. in the next hour, we are following developing news. >> your economy right now is headed in the right direction. and it will stay that way as long as there aren't anymore

self inflicted wounds out of washington. >> it is time for the president to offer his ideas about how to replace the sequester. >> the back and forth over those automatic spending cut that is are just three weeks away. nbc's first read team says the gop just wants to talk about the budget but the president does not want to get bogged down on one issue. latest on justice department memo obtained by nbc news that makes the case for legal drone strikes against americans. an i'll talk with democratic congressman adam schiff about the new proposal to make it easier to sue gun makers and gun dealers. wow, that's a lot of shrimp. [ male announcer ] it's red lobster's 30 shrimp! for $11.99 pair any two shrimp selections on one plate! like mango jalapeño shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. just $11.99. offer ends soon! i'm ryon stewart, and i sea food differently.